


Hit The Brakes

by girlnamedlance, phidari



Series: Getting To Know Us [2]
Category: Kamen Rider W (Double)
Genre: Gen, Motorcycles, One Shot, POV Third Person Limited, Past Tense, Philip Learning How To Person, Post-Begins Night, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-07-14 14:52:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7176359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlnamedlance/pseuds/girlnamedlance, https://archiveofourown.org/users/phidari/pseuds/phidari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It's five twenty-three. The sun will be rising in approximately seven minutes. You said today would be fine for practicing riding."</p><p>Shotaro squinted at Philip before recognition came across his face. He rubbed his eyes and pushed his hair back. Oh, right. He'd promised to take Philip out and teach him how to ride the HardBoilder today.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hit The Brakes

The sun wasn't even up yet when Philip pulled back the curtain to Shotaro's bed. He was saying something about waking up and "making the best use of our time", but Shotaro barely processed it. He groaned and rolled over to see what had disturbed his sleep. "Philip..." he muttered. "What time is it? Why are you waking me up?"

"It's five twenty-three. The sun will be rising in approximately seven minutes. You said today would be fine for practicing riding."

Shotaro squinted at Philip before recognition came across his face. He rubbed his eyes and pushed his hair back. Oh, right. He'd promised to take Philip out and teach him how to ride the HardBoilder today.

"Alright, alright. Let me make some coffee and get dressed." He pulled the blankets off himself and swung his feet out to touch the floor.

"I've made coffee already." Philip picked up a cup from where it sat on the table and handed it over to Shotaro.

Shotaro sipped the coffee. It wasn't... _bad_ , but it wasn't great, either. It tasted like Philip had just read an instruction manual on how to make coffee and followed it to the letter. Come to think of it, that's probably exactly what happened.

"There's a spare helmet in the bottom of the closet," he told Philip. He got up and took the coffee with him as he gathered up his clothes and ducked into the bathroom to change.

He finished his coffee while he dressed. It took an extra couple minutes because his still-fading fog of sleep meant getting the knot on his tie even took a couple tries. He grumbled a bit as he finally emerged from the bathroom. He had to chuckle, though, at the sight he was greeted with: Philip with his helmet on, struggling to snap the strap into place.

He walked over and helped him. "Here, you've got it twisted." Shotaro clicked it down and gave the tail a bit of a tug to snug it up. "Keep the windscreen down, it'll help hide your face."

Philip flipped the windscreen down with a nod. "Discretion would be prudent," he agreed. That creepy Gaia Memory syndicate had to still be after him.

Shotaro grabbed his jacket and pulled his own helmet out of the basketball hoop. "Let's go, Philip."

* * *

Philip had only ridden the HardBoilder once before, on the night Shotaro had brought him back from Gaia Tower. Still, when he climbed on behind Shotaro and wrapped his arms around his waist, it felt as natural as anything.

Shotaro was sure he'd looked this stuff up, but he made a point of telling him a few things anyway while he traded his hat for his helmet. "First lesson," he started. "When you're riding behind me, you need to stay pretty much glued to my back and follow my lead. Even if it feels weird. Even though I say that, if I push it faster than you can deal with, give me a tap. Or if you see someone we should know about. Got it?"

"Then an inordinate amount of trust is required between a motorcycle's driver and passenger," Philip mused. "Intriguing. Considering how well we have managed to coordinate so far as Double, I foresee no problems."

Shotaro gave him a small chuckle in response. "Let's hope so."

Philip nodded, tightening his grip around Shotaro in preparation. "Let's go."

Shotaro took off. Before setting off for their destination, he did a quick circle around the block just to make sure there weren't any weird extra vehicles in the neighborhood. This was a daily thing he did, so he could take note of any changes in trends.

Then off they went across the city. Even Fuuto was still a sleepy town at this time of the day. The trains had only just started running, and pedestrians and other cars were minimal. This was good timing for this kind of thing.

Philip did so well with the whole sticking to his back and leaning with him thing that Shotaro put aside some of his caution and just fell into his usual habits—in particular, driving a bit faster than might be considered necessary.

A little startled, Philip redoubled his grip around his waist. Shotaro smirked a bit. It was always nice to get an emotional reaction out of that walking encyclopedia.

He finally got them to where he had decided was as good enough a place as any for this lesson. It was an empty warehouse near the wharf. There was some debris in places, forgotten two-by-fours and whatnot, but there was sufficient clear floor space for them to do what they needed to in here. And being under a roof would help mitigate the risk of being seen.

He did another circle around the building before he headed up a forsaken loading ramp. He brought the HardBoilder to a stop and killed the engine. "Alright, this is it." He pulled his helmet off and put his hat back on. "She's all yours. Let's see you get her started." Philip was fortunate that it was a new, and very well-kept bike. Shotaro's first one had had a clutch so stiff it was a miracle it ran at all.

Shotaro climbed off the bike and Philip settled in. Hands on the handlebars. Feet on the pedals. He took deep breaths, probably reviewing whatever information he'd looked up prior to this.

Philip started the bike up. The vroom of the engine made him jump slightly, but he quickly settled back down with a grin on his face. "How thrilling," he murmured.

Shotaro smiled a bit at Philip's reaction. He was seeing more and more of the little moments like those that made Philip more of a full person, instead of just a brain. And they were good to see.

"See, I told you just reading about it wasn't enough. Alright, feet on the ground and kickstand off. Ease onto it slowly. It doesn't take much." Shotaro took a couple steps back, just in case.

The smile on Philip's face widened as he followed his partner's instructions. _Vroom vroom_ went the HardBoilder, and off he went.

Maybe a little faster than he should have. Okay— _definitely_ faster than he should have.

Shotaro tapped his foot and kept his hands on his hips as he watched. Philip was doing pretty well; the information in the Gaia Library was handy after all. It helped them out on cases, and it could help Philip out with this.

But just reading wasn't enough. Before long Philip was getting cocky, taking angles too tight and moving too fast. Shotaro shouted at him to slow down, but over the noise of the engine echoing in the empty building and the helmet, he probably didn't hear him. Or just didn't listen.

Eventually Philip rounded a corner at too tight an angle and went flying.

Shotaro started running toward him even before he toppled off the bike. "Oi! Philip!" he called as he ran toward the HardBoilder on its side. He got it up off of his partner and put the kickstand down, then crouched by Philip. "You okay?" It was probably the most aggravated and annoyed tone one had ever used to ask after someone, but there it was.

"Ugh..." Philip pushed himself up and rubbed his shoulder. "There seems to be no damage. While I was in the air I was able to calculate that I would suffer the least damage by going limp." He pulled his helmet off and shook his hair out of his face.

Shotaro made a frustrated kind of growl. "I can't just take you to the hospital if you get hurt, you know! That brain of yours isn't the only part of you that's important!"

He was yelling, but it was the kind of yell someone had when they were worried and you scared the shit out of them.But Philip was still new to interpersonal interactions; he probably didn't get the distinction. To him, yelling just meant anger, and yelling at _him_ meant that he'd screwed up. "I'm _fine_ , Shotaro!" he shot back.

Shotaro sighed. He stood up again and put his hand out to help Philip up. "Just try not to scare me like that, okay?"

Philip shrugged. He let go of Shotaro's hand once he was on his feet, took a seat again, and put his helmet back on.

Kickstand up. Vroom vroom. He took off again, slower this time, but more determined than before.

Shotaro took a long, steadying breath. Patience wasn't a thing he did well with, but Philip was going to need it. Well, he got back on his feet with no problem. He probably didn't have enough context to actually have any fear of injury.

So Shotaro just paced around, keeping his distance but just watching what he was up to. Philip was fine, and the bike only had a few scratches in the paint. "I guess she's properly broken in, now." Shotaro shook his head. "Sorry, Boss."

Philip didn't fall again. He kept it slow until he was sure he could handle turns, slowly accelerating with each lap.

Then he lined himself up with a barrel and a ramp.

Oh god, what was he doing now.

"Oi, Philip!" Shotaro shouted. No, this was a bad idea. He must have been paying attention when Shotaro pulled that exact same stunt in Double's body the other day.

There was no time to stop him. Philip went into the air, over the barrel, and came down perfectly. He skidded to a stop in front of Shotaro, pulled his helmet off and shook his hair out.

Shotaro backed away, tripped over a pipe and landed on his butt.

Philip kicked the kickstand down and swung his leg over so he was standing leaned against the bike, reaching a hand out to help Shotaro up.

Shotaro just looked up at Philip and sighed as he picked himself up. He couldn't really be mad, considering. "I guess you've got the hang of it," he said, brushing off his hat.

"I am the smartest person in the world, after all," Philip replied without a trace of irony. "Come. I would like to practice with a passenger, next."

Shotaro shook his head and huffed a bit at Philip's assertion. How _quickly_ he pushed past having the motorcycle pulled off of him. He gave the younger detective a steady look before he pulled his helmet back on. The last motorcycle he'd been on the back of was the boss's.

"Alright." He got settled in on the back and wrapped his arms around Philip's waist. Jeez, this kid was skinny. "Let's go."

Philip started the bike up again and took it slow. Well, slow-ish. Driving through a residential area slow, that kind of slow. Not as slow as Shotaro would have liked to see a complete beginner take it. He deviated from his nice safe path around the warehouse, turning and heading out into the parking lot.

Shotaro sat up a bit straighter as he left the warehouse so Philip stood a better chance of hearing him. "You want to take us home?" Traffic should still be fairly light, at this point. They were still about a half hour from morning rush hour.

Philip shook his head. He raised his voice to be heard; thank god he wasn't turning his head and taking his eyes off the road. "Not quite yet. I just think it would be prudent to get some practice on actual streets."

"Got it. You're in charge." Shotaro settled back in against his back again. He wasn't used to trusting a near stranger like this, but he really didn't have a choice at this point. And it _was_ Philip.

The easy way he and Philip coordinated still amazed him. It was obvious that Double Driver had been intended for Sokichi Narumi, but it had fallen to Shotaro, like the rest of the boss's unfinished business. They butted heads, but he and Philip had wound up pretty good at dealing with each other.

Even if Philip _was_ a complete moron sometimes.

With traffic as slow as it was now, Philip had a chance to learn to navigate on the streets without being too overwhelmed by other vehicles. Shotaro noticed that he didn't bother keeping to the speed limit, though. On the one hand, with so few cars on the road, that wasn't as big a deal.

On the other hand, was that a _police siren_ coming from behind them?

Philip didn't seem to be reacting to it. Did he know what it was? Or was it just one of those things he was tuning out because it "didn't interest him"?

Shotaro tapped Philip's arm. "Oi, you're too fast! We're getting pulled over!" This was bad in several ways. Hopefully he could talk their way out of a ticket.

"Pulled over?" Philip sounded worried. He revved the engine and increased his speed, dodging between a pair of cars.

"Hey! No! You need to stop! I'll handle this!" It was only natural he got scared, Shotaro realized. To Philip, being chased with the threat of apprehension could only mean one thing. "Calm down!"

"I can outrun them."

They were coming up on a long stretch of empty road with not much in their way. After a tense half minute or so Philip hung a right. The police car followed. But there, not far away, was something unexpected: A railroad crossing, and the safety bar was lowering.

"Philip, what the—?!"

Completely heedless of the jangling warning bells, Philip dodged around the safety bar and zipped across the tracks. Shotaro screamed uselessly.

Mere seconds after they crossed, a freight train lumbered by. But they were in the clear.

That sure had been lucky. How had Philip known...?

There was only one way. Shotaro's grip around Philip's waist tightened.

"Find an alley or something. I'm taking over." Shotaro didn't bother to keep the aggravation out of his voice.

Philip kept driving, taking random turns every so often, finally stopping in a random alleyway. Shotaro scrambled off the back of the bike and circled around to face Philip. "What the hell were you—?!"

Philip flipped up his windscreen and looked up at him, and finally Shotaro could see the proof of what he'd suspected: Philip was completely terrified. His eyes were wide with panic and he was breathing heavily. Seeing that took the bluster out of the older detective pretty quickly.

"Are you okay?" Anything else he had to say to him could wait.

Philip still had a deathgrip on the handlebars. "I'll be fine." Finally, he let go and scooted back to give Shotaro room in the driver's seat. "I would like to return to the detective agency."

Shotaro nodded. But he didn't sit down right away. "Listen, I've got some good connections to the police." By which he meant his best frenemy Jinno. "They're not really a threat to us. I could have told them that I was teaching you the basics and you got a little overexcited. They probably would have let us off." And, well, the bike stood out, so he was probably going to have someone knocking on the agency door before too long. He'd have to call Jinno later and get this smoothed over.

Philip nodded miserably.

Shotaro swung his leg over the bike and settled in. "For future reference: Absolutely no lookups while driving."

"But the road was clear—"

" _No._ Lookups. While driving."


End file.
